Sonus faber hand crafted loudspeakers from Italy. To be a Sonus faber reseller is a pleasure and a privilege – for us at Totally Wired, Sonus faber embody all the good qualities of audio which bought us to the business in the first instance. A conscious choice to place quality before quantity. Faultless workmanship combined with originality of thought & design.
The disregard for conventional commercial criteria make Sonus faber more than just a brand for us. With Sonus faber loudspeakers, it’s all about music and relationships. To become a Sonus faber owner is to bypass the bloodless pursuit of the technical and become immersed in the emotional pleasures of music.
Why fight Music? The Sonus faber philosophy
As we see it, Sonus faber are one of the very few loudspeaker designers to work with music rather than against it. Consider this – the characteristics that separate the sound of a cheap violin from that of a treasured heirloom instrument are there for anyone to hear – the tonality, precision, resonance and warmth are readily apparent. The same applies to any musical instrument used in performance – and this is by no means the exclusive province of Classical music – the qualities we associate with voice, drums or electric guitar are all defined by tone and resonance. With any instrument these qualities are direct reflections of the materials and craftsmanship used (with a human voice we may assume a higher source but the same physical principles apply.) So why fight resonance and by implication other musical qualities when designing loudspeakers – for speakers are simply musical instruments we play with a HiFi system. If this makes sense to you, then we are speaking the same language.
But for the technically literate we have to point out that Sonus faber designs can more than compete on a specification level. If you choose to harness music to work for you, rather than devote design resources to eliminating character, then aspects such as phase coherence, frequency response and dispersion become tools with which to produce better sound. Everything happens for a reason and in the physical world you can measure it – you just have to know what to look for and what is actually important!
And much of that judgement comes down to experience and intellect. Sonus faber are a brand able to stand on the performance and quality of their products – no sexist advertising, no numbered ranges designed by accountants, no mass market-a-pair-in-every-home aspirations.
Although a speaker can contain the most sophisticated of electronic components, it’s timbre can only be determined through listening. Their unique philosophy is based on the craftsmanship of musical instruments. With a conviction that a loudspeaker is, in a sense, a musical container like the body of a violin. Traditional hand crafted cabinets are at the heart of the design. Sonus faber put more soul into their smallest speaker than most companies can muster in their entire range. Resolutely handmade in relatively small quantities, by a family (in that special Italian sense), all Sonus faber speakers feature the finest European components nested in a carefully crafted cabinet of selected solid timber with not a veneer in sight.
For Sonus faber there is one very simple principle – the loudspeaker is an instrument to play music. And like any other handcrafted instrument, it follows that the materials used and quality of craftsmanship will have a direct bearing on the sound produced. Sonus faber don’t waste time fighting resonance (and by implication music), they simply employ it to further their pursuit of more enjoyable sound.
So you’ll understand, that the sound of any Sonus faber speaker will reflect this approach. Nothing else has quite the richness, especially when it comes to vocals and stringed instruments. You may well think that this would confine their talents to the realm of classical music – in fact, this richness and generosity of tone works wonders with just about any recording, making the previously mundane suddenly listenable and the well recorded simply sublime.
The new Olympica series is pure Sonus faber. Hand crafted in Italy from the finest materials these are heirlooms rather than consumer goods. It’s obvious that not everyone will make the investment in these – even though the Olympica range is effectively the affordable series when compared to their most ambitious projects.
There is a direct line of development from the first Sonus faber model we really fell in love with – the Signum – back in 2000, through the Cremona series and their upgraded M versions, to the new Olympica I. Read our page on the Olympica series here.
The Chameleon collection. The introduction of a new model is always an event. You open a Sonus faber box and the rich aroma of leather, lacquer and maybe even a hint of coffee fills the room.
Ranging from just $1300 for the centre to $5000 for the pair of the awesome floorstanders, the new Chameleon collection draws on all of Sonus faber’s experience to produce 3 models that are at once affordable and totally desirable. Being Sonus faber you’ll know that they will sound fantastic.
Recognising that headphones are a very personal possession Sonus faber developed a bespoke design with Pryma. One that also gives you a choice in finish to reflect your personal taste. The Pryma is without argument headphones of unique style. Every aspect, every detail, is completely deliberate and with purpose. The sophisticated style will maintain it’s beauty due to the high standards that Sonus faber have set for these headphones.
35 years ago Sonus faber was founded by Franco Serblin. His passion is ‘to model wood on waves of music, transforming the speaker into a musical instrument’. Hence the development of these extraordinarily beautiful speakers with sound that is captivating listeners all around the world. Sonus fabers standard of excellence is firmly rooted in old world craftsmanship. They manufacture articles of surpassing beauty employing highly technical processes, but remain dedicated to the understanding that man and his work will always remain the protagonist.
